Oklahoma Head Men's Basketball Coach Porter Moser put the finishing touches on his staff when he announced the hiring of David Patrick as Associate Head Coach.
Patrick comes to OU after serving this past season as Associate Head Coach at Arkansas, helping them to their first NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearance since 1995 and a final No. 6 ranking in the coaches poll. They finished 25-7 on the year and posted a 13-4 mark in the SEC after going 20-12 and 7-11 the year before his arrival in Fayetteville. UA ranked 11th nationally this past season in scoring offense (81.4 ppg) and led the SEC in scoring margin (+10.6 per game).
In addition to his stint at Arkansas, Patrick has served on staffs at Nicholls State (2005-06), Saint Mary's College (2006-10), the Houston Rockets (2010-12), LSU (2012-16) and TCU (2016-18) before being named head coach at UC Riverside prior to the 2018-19 season.
A native of Bermuda who moved to Melbourne, Australia, at the age of 10, Patrick has also been an assistant coach for Australia's national team since 2019 and will serve in the same capacity this summer at the Olympics in Tokyo.
"David and I have been friends for a long time," said Moser, "and we've talked about this possibility (of coaching together) for several years but there just wasn't ever the right scenario. I have so much respect for him as a coach. He's run his own program at Riverside. He's got worldwide recruiting ties. And he has tremendous knowledge of the game. But he's also a first-class human being and a friend, and I'm thrilled to add him as the final piece to our staff. From having a former player of mine in Clayton Custer (director of video operations and player development), to having someone with me for 17 years like Matt Gordon (special assistant to the head coach and director of scouting), to having David and K.T. Turner (associate head coach) and Emanuel Dildy (assistant coach) on the road recruiting and to maintaining Mike Shepherd (director of operations) and Bryce Daub (director of strength and performance) who know the lay of the land, I just couldn't be happier with the versatility and well-roundedness of this staff."
Patrick's two-year term as UC Riverside head coach culminated with a 17-15 record in 2019-20 (the Highlanders went 9-22 the year before Patrick's arrival) and invitations to play in the College Insider Tournament (CIT) and the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) postseason tournaments prior to the season-ending due to COVID-19. UC Riverside's 17 wins that season was the most in its Division I history and the Highlanders led the Big West Conference and ranked eighth nationally in scoring defense (60.6 ppg).
"I'm super excited to join Porter, who's obviously great coach, but more importantly to me a great friend and a person I've looked up to over the years," said Patrick, who indicated he got to know Moser through College Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Majerus starting about 10 years ago. "Yes, Porter's a competitor and can really coach, but he's a better person. The week I was hired as head coach at Riverside was the week he was getting his Loyola team ready to play in the Final Four, and during a very busy period, he took time to celebrate my hire and made the moment about me. That's rare and shows you the kind of person he is and the care he has for people.
"Another factor for me is OU's basketball tradition and its reputation as an athletics department. That's very appealing, and it starts with (Athletics Director) Joe Castiglione. His success as an administrator and to be at a place with such stability are exciting. OU is about winning and winning the right way and I can't wait to get there and get started."
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